YOGURT from Cultures for Health
Nut milk can be made by first soaking a cup of nuts overnight in water with a little sea salt added. Drain off the soaking water, then put the nuts in a blender with a quart of clean water. Puree this mixture thoroughly, then strain through cheesecloth to get the nut milk. (The ground nuts can be used as a flour substitute in baking, or in a large variety of recipes.)
Using Alternative Milks for Yogurt Most yogurt starters are grown in dairy milk, so for individuals with extreme sensitivity to dairy, the small amount of exposure could be problematic. For those people, or for people who want to avoid dairy for other reasons, we offer Vegan Yogurt Starter, which is entirely plant-based. If you do choose to use a reculturing type of yogurt, you will need to maintain a separate quantity of dairy-based yogurt that can be used as a starter culture. Because most alternative milks have less sugar than dairy milk, it can help to add some sugar to the culture to promote fermentation. (It provides more food for the bacteria.) For soy, nut, or coconut milk, approximately 6 to 8 grams (1.5 to 2 teaspoons) per cup would give the milk the same sugar profile as dairy milk. Rice milk is already fairly high in sugar, so it wouldn’t necessarily help to add more. The yogurt from alternative milks can be made thicker with the addition of thickeners such as cornstarch, arrowroot, gelatin, or agar before or after culturing.
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